hope in our eyes || 37th hunger games ✔️

Break Free

Hazel

After the Tribute Parade, Lavender immediately drags us into a magnificent golden elevator, with Alex and Diamond awkwardly dragging along. Diamond keeps staring down through the glass at where the horrid President Snow is still standing after he gave us our so-called welcoming speech.
Because Alex and I are District 12's tributes, our floor is on the twelfth level of he building. I don't mind, though. It's fun to look down through the floor at the empty nothingness that's slowly decreasing in height as we increase.
Once we arrive at our floor, I am astounded by what I see, just like on the train. Only this place is even more grand. Faintly sparkling gold paint covers the walls, silver chairs surround bright wooden tables, and the floor shines beneath my boots. To my right is a dining table built for about ten people, and to the left are two rooms for Alex and me. Those two rooms seem almost brand new, with elegant black doors carrying silvery white handles.
Lavender cuts in.
"You may do anything you want until dinnertime, where we will meet at the dining table." She smiles and hops away on her crazy bright yellow heels. Diamond shrugs and follows Lavender. A few moments later, Alex heads into one of the rooms and I walk into the other.
A silky violet canopy bed is already made for me, so I throw myself on it with a sigh. I close my eyes, my mind wandering back to District 12, where every orphan must have forgotten I was reaped, maybe even Poppy.
Suddenly a soft hand gently taps me on the shoulder, and I jump up, only to find myself face to face with a mute servant, or Avox, as Capitol people call them. I've seen a couple Avoxes before the Tribute Parade, and a wave of sympathetic for he one standing beside me washes over me. It must be horrible to not be able to laugh, curse, or just downright talk! The servant reaches into her pocket and pulls out... Poppy's bracelet!
"Woah, where'd you get that?' I demand, and she hands me the delicate bangle, pointing at a note attached to it. It says, Dear Hazel, I found this bracelet in your reaping outfit. Best of wishes, Lark.
Then the AVOXI hands me my reaping clothes, blue skirt and all. How are people so organized here? I lose things all the time!
The servant is just about to leave when I stand up and ask, "Hey, what's your name?"
She snatches a piece of paper from another pocket and scribbles, My name is Ren.
"That's a pretty name. I have no idea why my parents called me Hazel. What's that even supposed to mean, a type of tree or something?"
At this he Avox makes what I suppose is a chuckle. It's this coughing, snorting sound that sounds almost like... well, nothing. She leaves my room with a respectful nod, still grinning.
I decide to take a shower, strolling into the ginormous room with a large white bathtub, marble sink, and giant stall that contains several different buttons. I slip off my parade outfit, closing the shower curtain behind me. It takes me minutes to figure out what to do with all these little buttons. My face screwed up in defeat, I finally press a brown switch and get soaked by refreshing warm weather with this fruity scent to it. I shove another knob, and that thing shampoos my black hair, scrubbing my long strands all the way through.
A few moments later, I flip an on/off switch, getting blasted by a gale of dry air that blows me completely arid. I step back into my room to pick a silver dress that seems the most normal of all the clothes in the huge closet.
Dinner is quite awkward. Despite the delicious food set before us and Lavender's vivid chattering, the rest of us stay quiet, finding a sudden interest out of the tablecloth.
I dismiss myself back to my room and lay down on my bed, my eyes focused on the tiny piece of the setting sun that's barely visible. Everything else surrounding it is dark. As the Sky completely blackens, I fall asleep to the peaceful silence, only to be confronted with a nightmare...
-
I am in the Hunger Games, perched on my pedestal. Sixty second pass before all the tributes leap onto the ground and rapidly scamper around for their bags, weapons, whatever they need, but half of them get slaughtered along the way. Fortunately, I'm not one of them.
I escape into the woods, nimbly climbing up a tree and diving into a deep slumber, only to be waken by the ferocious growl of a bird-like mutt perching above me. It's razor-like talons along with its penetrating black eyes seem to announce my death. Several more appear around me. However, I use the knives I snagged to nail all of them, and soon they're  lying dead on the forest floor.
Time flies by, and soon almost every tribute is killed. I begin to think that I actually won the Games, until the scrape of an axe behind me brings me back into reality again. It's the District 2 girl.
In a few quick moves, she nails me to the ground and snatched Poppy's bracelet from my wrist. "What's this? Is it from your boyfriend? Mommy? Friend?"
"Shut up!" I scream defiantly, but the girl blocks me with her fist in my mouth.
"Say one more word and you're dead meat." She laughs, and I do shut up. "Well, that was easy." The girl grins. She grabs a spear and positions it to my neck. Right now, I'm struggling to escape, to break free from this horrid dream that may forever haunt me for the rest of my short life.
And my wish is actually granted when the girl stabs down with her spear. Blood splatters everywhere, and I slowly slip into darkness, just after my cannon-
-
I wake up, gasping for air and life, and am released to see that I'm back in my bed in the Capitol building.
But the District 2 girl's evil sneer, her bloody cackle, keeps showing up in my head, and now it's serving as my prison.
I need to break free from the bars of fear.
The next morning at almost exactly 10:00 AM, Lavender escorts Alex and I downstairs in the black and silver training outfits laid out for us and we join the other tributes, who are gathering together in a circle around our head trainer, who is yammers on for what seems like an hour for me about not fighting with the other tributes, survival skills, and other stuff. As soon as he dismisses us, all the Career tributes, or the older kids from districts 1 to 4, face each other to the biggest, most dangerous-looking weapons.

I decide to do some archery. It's similar to throwing knives, really, you just need to aim more carefully. Of course, I've only touched a bow once, when I spotted a deer in the forest behind our cabin, and the animal was too far away to get hit by a knife. When I shot, I didn't hit the deer. Instead, the arrow landed in a tree branch above it. Still, that was pretty close for a first try.

The instructor at the station is a fifty year old man with slowly balding red hair. He tells me the basics, just aim straight, hold the bowstring up to your chin, and I manage to get a couple hits. Then, I do some plant identification, and notice the small girl from 11 I saw during the parade, who is actually hurling knives. Great, I might have some competition at the bloodbath when we struggle for weapons.

On the second day of training, the knife station is empty, so that's where I go. The knives there are very different from the ones I used back at home. First of all, the blades are way heavier, and the handles are super light. After fidgeting with the weapons, I finally select a smaller knife and throw it at the target in front of me. It lands in the second circle to the middle. A couple tries later, I get some bulls-eyes and keep hitting the center until a voice interrupts, "You should throw with more force."

I turn around to see the fourteen-year-old District 4 girl, her sea green eyes fixed on me. Great, there's a Career tribute in front of me. 

"What do you want?" I demand, wincing at the feeble edge in my voice.

"I said," She looks at me with amusement. "that you should hit that target with more strength in your throw. That way, there's a higher chance your target will get deeply wounded."

I turn back to throwing my knives. "Shouldn't you be with the other Careers?"

"That's none of your business." The girl shrugs. "My name's Lily, by the way. Lily Summers."

"Name's Hazel Slivers. District 12."

"Well, see you around, then?" Lily asks.

"I guess." As Lily walks away, I can't help but think, Why did she help me? What does she want with me?

There's a thirteen-year-old girl representing District 8 to my right who's practicing with daggers. Her heart shaped necklace swings around in the air as she moves. She seems to make a nice ally. I walk over to her and ask, "Hey, are you looking for allies?"

"I already have a couple." She plays with a strand of her brown hair, then motions for the brother and sister from 11 to come over.

"Hey," I nod. "Hazel Slivers. Twelve."

"Hi." The boy says. "I'm Aspen Oleander. This is Olive."

"Hello." Olive shyly grins at me, and I smile back.

We're soon called for lunch, and although I hate and fear the Hunger Games, there is a hope that can help me survive. A hope that can help me win.

A hope that is created by my new alliance.